Kevin's Life and Travel Blog

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 5, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 14.0 miles, 22.5 km.

For the second night in a row, I woke up a lot during sleep. This was mainly due to feeling a bit cold, strange dreams, condensation dropping on my face from the tent ceiling,  and uncomfortable sleeping positions. When I got out of the tent around 7am, it was still very cold outside, around 35° F (about 2° C). Everything was wet and took a while to dry. From all the campsites I’d used on the JMT, Woods Creek was one of the lowest in elevation and, as a result, surrounded by mountains. It took a while for the sun to rise above them and hit me directly.

I crossed the suspension bridge two more times just for fun before getting back on the trail.

Woods Creek suspension bridge

I wasn’t feeling as energized as I was the day before. I’d been wanting to take a dip in one of the lakes for the last few days but the weather had not been appropriate. This day was perfect though, with not one single cloud in the sky.

A sunny day, finally

The long hike up torwards Glen Pass

I run into the guided tour group with the horse pack right before Dollar Lake. I stopped to chat with them and found out that they were doing a 14-day hike from Florence Lake to Mount Whitney. Nice people, and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves. Once at Dollar Lake, I stopped for the long awaited dip. The last shower I had taken was 8 days ago at Vermillion Valley Resort. The water was a bit cold but didn’t affect much. While waiting for the sun to dry me, I ate lunch by the lake. Beautiful views.

Dollar Lake with Fin Dome in the background

As I was getting ready to get back on the trail, I met 3 guys from the Los Angeles area coming from Baxter Pass, which according to them was a miserable experience. They told me about the huge fire in the Angeles National Forest, which was the worst they’ve ever seen. I also found out from them that it was Labor Day weekend which I wasn’t aware of at all.

Back on the trail and after a couple of miles, I arrived at Rae Lakes. There were a good number of people here since this is a very popular area.

Rae Lakes

Rae Lakes

The final ascent to Glen Pass (11,798 ft, 3,596 m) came right after the lakes. The climb is in two parts. The first one to a plateau before a final one up a series of very steep switchbacks. I struggled a lot and my legs were getting very fatigued. I had to stop many times to catch my breath. I was starting to get a bit frustrated until I convinced myself to enjoy the moment and the views. This was not something one gets to experience everyday. It was the toughest pass I did on the JMT.

Views from Glen Pass

Views from Glen Pass

I saw a lot of hikers coming up from the other side of the pass and I sympathized with them. The descent (ascent for them) was very steep and brutal, much worse than the one I had just finished on the opposite side. My heels and ankles got sore from the pounding. Thinking about Forester Pass the following day, I was hoping that a good night’s rest would fix everything. It was already 3:30pm and I still had about 5.5 miles to go, so I picked up the pace. I run into a friendly park ranger who asked me if I was carrying a bear canister.

Burnt tree

I arrived at Vidette Meadow a little bit before 6pm. I passed by two fairly covered campsites until I found one that was more open. I camped about 50 yards away from 3 other hikers, which ended up being a mistake since they were up chatting and laughing pretty loud well after dark. It was starting to get cold pretty fast, and while my last few attempts had failed, I decided to give it one more go at starting a fire. Surprisingly, I was successful. What difference the fire made. Camp chores were much more fun and less rushed with the fire there to keep me warm.

Camping at Vidette Meadow

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 4, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 14.0 miles, 22.5 km.

It took me 2 and 1/2 hours since the moment I got up to when I hit the trail after 10am. I was on vacation, so I wanted to sleep well and not feel always rushed.

As soon as I started hiking, I heard a horse pack coming up behind me. It was a group of hikers on a guided tour doing the second half of the JMT. I picked up my pace right away, not because I was trying to avoid the hikers, but because I didn’t want to walk on a trail full of fresh horse crap.

Physically, I was feeling great. The blister wasn’t bothering me anymore, the switchbacks felt pretty easy to climb, and I almost didn’t notice the weight of my backpack. The weather wasn’t looking too good however, with lots of dark clouds in the sky. I went to visit the Bench Lake Ranger Station but couldn’t find the ranger for some weather info.

Bench Lake Ranger Station

I saw the friendly ranger 5 minutes after getting back on the trail. He told me that a storm was expected for the afternoon and through the weekend. I started to hike faster, trying to go over Pinchot Pass before the rain.

Nasty clouds on top of Pinchot Pass

About 1/2 a mile before the pass, it started to rain. As I stopped to put on my rain jacket, I heard lightning and saw a thunder hit the top of the pass. I made a U-turn right away. I run into the guided tour group as they were marching on despite the storm. The guy who cared for the horses in the group asked me if I was turning around, I said yes and he told me that that was the smart thing to do. I asked him if he wasn’t afraid and his reply was “No choice”.

Suddenly rain turned into hail. I run around looking for a spot to set up my tent. I couldn’t afford to get my clothes wet. I found a semi adequate spot and waited the storm out in the tent, which lasted only about 30 minutes, while eating lunch. I started to realize that I didn’t plan enough sweet food in my diet. I was constantly craving for it.

Coming out of the tent after the hail storm

I initiated my second attempt for Pinchot Pass (12,050 ft, 3673 m). As soon as I start hiking, it started to rain again, although lightly. I also heard thunder again, but it was from far away. I decided to suck it up and keep going. The climb was easy. Once on top, I took a quick video and got the hell out of there.

Looking back north, right before Pinchot Pass

Looking south from Pinchot Pass

The 3.7 miles from Pinchot Pass to Sawmill Pass Junction was very enjoyable. It never stopped raining but it was never hard enough to damp my pants. I really liked hiking without the usual punishing sun. I did this section in no time and caught up to the horse pack.

John Muir Trail sign

The terrain got tougher after the junction so I had to slow down a bit. The trail runs right next to Woods Creek for 3.5 miles before arriving at Woods Creek Junction, where I was going to end the day.

Woods Creek

Woods Creek

There was an note by one of the sings right before the junction, saying that there was a toilet available close by and urging hikers to use it instead of burying their waste.

Note about availability of toilets

There’s a very cool suspension bridge to cross the actual creek. I had seen a video of the bridge before the trip and was really looking forward to cross it. It was a lot of fun.

Woods Creek suspension bridge

Woods Creek suspension bridge

It waited 15 minutes to take the video of the bridge since there was someone cleaning up on the other end of it and I didn’t want him to be in the video. There were a few campsites right by the bridge. I picked one right before the horse pack arrived. The same guy who cared for the horses I had talk to earlier told me that they were gonna set up nearby, and that if I wanted a little more piece and quiet, I could camp on the a few spots about 30 yards away. I followed his advice. One by one, the ten or so hikers in that group arrived at the site. It was quickly getting dark so I at dinner and did my chores in a hurry.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 3, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 12.3 miles, 19.8 km.

I woke up to good news. The rain had stopped. Apparently it didn’t rain that much at all. There was also almost no condensation inside the tent, which was strange. I spend a ridiculous half an hour cutting the moleskin for my blister. The knife was pretty much useless.

Deer Meadow campsite

Once I joined the trail, it started to climb up immediately. I saw two deers right away. I guess that’s why they call it Deer Meadow. I then encountered a few switchbacks which at the time made me believe were the famous Golden Staircase. I had been looking forward to it since quite a few hikers had mentioned how impressive it was. These switchbacks were not impressive at all, I thought. I continued on and was getting closer and closer to an extremely tall and steep wall of rock. I was starting to wonder how I was going to go around it since on one side was Palisade Creek and on the other was a huge mountain. I wondered this until I saw the real Golden Staircase, switchbacking up the face of the wall. I was very impressed now. The engineering and the amount of work it must have taken to build it were amazing.

Looking back at Deer Meadow

Golden Staircase

Golden Staircase

One last look back at Deer Meadow

For the first one the JMT, my legs were feeling the climb. Before this point, when I got tired it was mostly from running out air, but not muscle fatigue. The following next 5 miles to Mather Pass seemed very long to me.

Heading toward Mather Pass

I met a older couple doing a 3 day hike. The lady told me that her husband was stopping at every lake to fish. I found a nice spot at Lower Palisade Lake to eat lunch before moving on.

Upper Palisade Lake

Palisade Lakes right before Mather Pass

The final ascent to Mather Pass (12,100 ft, 3,688 m) was very rocky. I had to watch each step very carefully to avoid spraining an ankle. Since I miscalculated and didn’t bring enough water, I had to ration it on the way up. I finally hit the pass around 2pm.

On top of Mather Pass

I stayed on top of the pass for a while, enjoying the view, until I fell a few drops of rain fall. I scrambled and started racing down, but it turned out to be a false alarm. The switchbacks immediately after the pass were very rocky too, but after a while the trail became very smooth and enjoyable. I stopped around 4pm for a snack and when I stood up again, my ankles were pretty sore.

I arrived at Main South Fork Kings crossing, my intended camping site, around 5pm. Lots of streams and rivers in this area. Since it was still early, I did some laundry and washed my socks. It took me a long while to get them somewhat clean, so much dust were collected in them. I spotted 4 other people camping in the area but they were kind of far so I didn’t make an effort to go talk to them. All day this day, I had a numb feeling on both of my big toes. I later found out that it wasn’t an uncommon thing to happen in longer hikes.

John Muir Trail Journal Index